Adults: Body, white. Rump, wings, tail, black. Upper tail-coverts, white. Under wing-coverts, white. Head, white or grey. Shortcrest, white or grey. Naked skin around eye, pale yellow. Eye, brown. Bill, pale blue with pink ridge. Pouch, pink-yellow with faint red stripe fro base towards center. Feet and webs, leaden.
Female: Smaller than the male.
Immatures: Plumage brownish where adults are black. Head and rump, dull white. Bill and pouch, flesh-yellow. Naked skin around eye, with or without blue tint. Feet, brown-grey.
Voice
Normally silent. Some grunt-like sounds away from breeding areas. During breeding a guteral 'orrh', 'thu-thuh', 'ah-ahahah', 'oh-oh' and 'uh-uhhr' in display.
Australian Pelican (Pelecanus conspicillatus) [XC334238]
by Khristos Nizamis from Tibooburra, New South Wales, Australia (call)
Australian Pelican (Pelecanus conspicillatus) [XC185637]
by Marc Anderson from Phillip Island, Victoria, Australia (call)
Nest
In dense colonies on the ground on islands. Occasionally in bushes. Composed of plant stems, grasses and sticks, gathered as incubation proceeds. The nest can be quite substantial in size.
Eggs (Guide)
2 - 4; pure white; ellipsoidal; about 90 x 59 mm. Incubation: 32 - 35 days; by both sexes, in shifts.
Young
Altricial, nidicolous. Fledge in about 100 days.
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9